


What is Normal?

by FandomVulture333



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Asperger Syndrome, Blogger Castiel, Castiel Has Aspergers, Castiel is a Father, Ignorant People, Lawyer Dean, M/M, Past Abuse, Past Relationship(s), Social Services
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-21
Updated: 2016-05-09
Packaged: 2018-06-03 14:10:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,271
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6613696
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FandomVulture333/pseuds/FandomVulture333
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>To Castiel what is normal? He is a loving father to his daughter Kate and just happens to be an aspie too. But not everyone is understanding that high-functioning autistics can live regular lives too and be successful parents. One day Castiel gets a call from Kate's school saying that social services are taking her because concerned parents don't think he should be a parent. When he goes to court his lawyer, Dean Winchester, is assigned to be an assisting guardian during the case to clear Castiel of any wrong doing. During this time they become close in a way that is new to Castiel and old wounds erupt from his past. Dean tries to understand but he reads the autism awareness blog posts that Castiel writes and edits as his job and begins to understand more and more about his client and how important his daughter is to him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I am happy to write my first story with Aspergers involved. I am an Aspie too and I will be putting myself into this as well.

“Kate please don’t do that, come back here.”

Castiel Milton was exhausted from a long day of editing and chasing his daughter was making his day even worse.

“Daddy you have to catch me now.” Kate squealed loudly, not understanding that her shriek was earsplitting to her father. She ran around till Castiel almost caught her and then slipped and fell, using his hands to catch himself but not before placing them on a floor of legos.

“Ah fu-dge!” He almost cussed in front of his four year old. The pain from the corners and edges of the plastic cubes were causing agonizing discomfort. “Why did I think she was old enough for legos, I don’t know?” Castiel muttered to himself as he gave up and met the floor.

Kate stopped running and saw that her father was defeated by her antics.

“Daddy?”

“You hurt Daddy’s ears Kate. You know how sensitive Daddy’s ears are.”

“Is it because of your butt-bergers?”

Castiel always snickered when he heard his daughter say that instead of aspergers. He always told Kate that she should never swear and one of those words was ass. But his illness was aspergers syndrome and she didn’t want to get in trouble for saying aspergers because of the ass part of the word. So she would say butt-bergers instead, which to him was the single handed most adorable thing in the world.

“Yes Kate, because of my butt-bergers.” He slowly got up off the legos and then stood next to his five year old daughter, “Kate its time for bed. Can you be a good girl and brush your teeth while I get ready for story time?”

Kate smiled and nodded yes, she loved a story before bed. It was a bonding moment for her and her father. He always had the best stories to tell to his daughter and would use the best voices for them. After Kate came back into her room from brushing her teeth, Castiel got her dressed into her nightgown and helped her get under the covers.

“What story do you want tonight?” He asked.

“I want the angel story!” She squealed then put her hands over her lips after she saw her father cringe a little, “Sorry Daddy.”

“Its fine sweetheart, I love telling you this story anyway.” He took a breath, “Once a upon a time there were two brothers. Sam, who was tall and smart, and Dean, who was tough and brave. They fought evil in the world while riding around on a big black Impala that Dean called “Baby”.”

“I bet Baby is all sweet and fluffy.”

Castiel didn’t know how to explain that Impala’s are not like llamas so he continued the story, “One day Sam got hurt really bad while killing evil and Dean couldn’t stand to live without his brother so he went to look for a creature that could heal him. Dean found one of them and went up to her and said-”

“Please save my brother, I will do anything?” Kate blurted. 

Castiel smiled and continued, “The woman then looked at Dean, “Anything huh? I’ll make you a deal then. If I bring back Sam then you have to come with me in a week and become my slave forever.” “Deal!” Dean said and they shook on it. Then Dean went back and found his brother all healed up. But he decided not to tell Sam about what he had done. Instead Dean went and ate bad food, drank adult drinks and did adult activities with women for the rest of the week.”

“I don’t want to do adult activities till I get married, Daddy.”

Castiel was glad that Kate kinda knew what adult activities were and that she knew that only “adults” should do them.

“Then a snarling dog came and found Dean while he was hanging out with Sam. “I have to go Sam. I made a deal to save you and now I need to go with them.” Dean went with the dog and left Sam sad and alone. Dean followed the dog and then was led to a cage and was locked inside and hurt everyday for a 40 days while being a slave to the evil creatures. And then-”

“An angel found Dean and saved him.” Kate cheered.

“Yes Kate, an angel found Dean and broke down the doors of his cage and the links in his chains. Once he scooped up Dean and healed him, he flew them out of the cage and away from the evil creatures. They got far enough away and then the angel put Dean down on the ground and settled down next to him. Dean woke up and saw the face of a man with dark brown hair and blue eyes-”

“Just like your’s Daddy.”

“Yes just like mine,” Castiel smiled, he knew that he would be Kate’s angel forever. “Thank you for saving me, I didn’t deserve it though.” Dean said. “Everyone deserves to be saved. So I gripped you tight and raised you from perdition because you deserved it. Your brother needs you.” The angel replied. “Thank you. Can I show you my gratitude?” Dean asked. “Sure” The angel replied.-”

“And then they kiss.” Kate made a kissy noise afterwards, this was her favorite part.

“Yes Kate they kiss and live happily ever after.” Castiel smiled at his daughter, “Now I wish you a good night and sweet dreams.” He kissed the top of her head and tucked her in some more, “I love you Kate.”

“I love you too Daddy.” And she blew a kiss at him.

Castiel turned off the lights and closed the door. Once he was away from her room he breathed a sigh of relief. Kate was a loud girl and could be a handful sometimes, which wasn’t that great for his aspergers. When it came to his illness the main problems he had were his sensitivities, lack of verbal and social filter, and his awkwardness around strangers. His sensitivities were that loud and obnoxious noises bothered him, certain textures, like leather and suede, felt evil to him. Being touched by people he didn’t know caused him great pain and only let family, friends, and professionals (Like doctors) touch him. Eating could be difficult because of textures too, like he couldn’t eat yogurt or jello products. And that his nose was on point and when looking for things he had eagle eyes. His verbal filter or lack of one, got him into trouble sometimes and when he talked out loud or laughed at funny thoughts people could really hear him and would give him disturbed looks. And finally he couldn’t accept change very well.

It was the recent change that had happened that Castiel was trying so hard to accept and was slowly getting it around his head. But he still blamed himself for his failed marriage. His wife of five years left him in the middle of the night two months ago and had written away her parental rights in the process too with a note saying, “I only had her cause you wanted her and I only married you for her, now she’s all yours. Don’t bother looking for me, I want nothing to do with you two anymore. Good luck retard!”

It hurt more that she called him a retard than that she only stuck around because he wanted their daughter. But now he had Kate all to himself. The only thing that worried him would be an ignorant person declaring him unfit to be a parent and taking him to court. Castiel loved his daughter more than anything else, she was his light in a world full of darkness.

Castiel went downstairs to start the night shift of his job which was writing and editing articles for autism awareness blogs. The pay was decent for them to live in a town house and be a stay at home dad. He had a degree in English and journalism and had worked most of his teenage and young adult years. But now he felt at home writing for autism awareness blogs and talking about his daily life as a father with aspergers syndrome. He didn’t know it yet but his would help and hinder him soon.


	2. Chapter 2

Castiel was dropping Kate off at kindergarten the next morning and made chit chat with her on the way to school.

“Kate,”

“Yes daddy?” Kate replied with a smile on her face, she was always a happy kid.

“What is your goal at school today?”

Kate thought about it and then quickly answered, “I want to work on my spelling today. I only know how to spell difficulty by heart.”

“Oh yeah, how do you spell difficulty?” Castiel was actually curious.

“Misses D, Misses I, Misses F F I, Misses C, Misses U, Misses L T Y!” Kate giggled.

Castiel wanted to bust out laughing as that was the poem from his favorite childhood movie, Matilda.

“Yes Kate, that is how you spell difficulty.” He had a grin from ear to ear.

Kate smiled as her father pulled up to the school’s driveway, 

“Here we are Kate. Any last words?”

“I love you daddy. Don’t let your butt-bergers stop you today.”

Castiel’s heart melted as that was something she would always say to him. He was so fortunate that his daughter was one of the most loving people in his world. Friends were kinda hard to come by when all of your old friends you shared with your ex-wife. That and when you are a house dad and you work from home.

“I love you too Kate.” And she unbuckled her seatbelt, opened the door and got out of her booster seat. She shut the door to the car when she grabbed her backpack and waved good bye to her father.

“Bye daddy.” And she blew him a kiss as she skipped away.

He waved back and then put the car into drive and drove away. When Kate was at school, Castiel would do household chores and work on the blogs and keep up to date on his hobbies. Castiel was a homesteader and liked to make their fruit and peanut butters and Kate’s favorite treat that they would make sometimes, fruit leather. He remembers how they have had a few times where it sticks to the wax paper and then became inedible.

Castiel’s chores varied everyday, he made a chart of what to do everyday and everything else afterwards. Laundry and meals were a must and cleaning Kate’s room and the house were another thing he had to do. His OCD tendencies for everything to be clean and germ free did take a toll on him sometimes. He had to put lotion on the backs of his hands, if it was on palms it drove him insane because it made his hands feel heavy and gross, because his hands would dry and crack from all of the hand sanitizer and hand washing he would do.

Then he would start his blog editing and hopefully get one or two posts completed in the day and one at night. The advertising from the blog paid a lot of money and Castiel could easily make $500 a finished post. Sometimes he was editing for a co-worker or sometimes he would be posting on his column on the blog. His column was “Adventures as an Aspergers Dad”, kinda like Single Dad Laughing but he would post more about the challenges that he faces and his hopes and dreams. Sometimes he would post about his past and what he’s grown up with and how he wants to change the future with the experiences he’s had.

Castiel came home and put a load of laundry into the washing machine, washed his hands and then found his lap top and opened his email and got two articles he would need to to edit and finish by four pm pacific time. He lived in Pontiac, Illinois so time was something that was kinda on his side. It was 9am in the morning on a Tuesday and with a glass of soy milk, milk didn’t taste right to him and it left a strange after flem in his mouth, he began to work.

The first article was about sensitivities and how they can affect daily life. Castiel was also allowed to put some of his issues into this post, permission granted by the editor in chief. He opened up about how certain foods he couldn’t eat unless it was done in a specific way, dairy products were a big one. Then next part included textures, types of leathers and suede products felt like fire to him. Incredibly unpleasant to touch and his hands would start stimming if he thought about textures like that or the idea of a bug crawling on him or touching one. Wet paper towels, like when cleaning up spills, would make his skin crawl. Those were the ones he decided to insert into the article and then checked it for grammar and spelling and then sent it off to the editor in chief.

The second article was a simple fact checker article. Castiel had to find the articles and doctor quotes used to make sure that they were accurately provided facts and correctly quoted. It was an article about a new type of speech therapy and the results that it provided with the short term results provided. A few calls were made and everything checked out perfect as he emailed the article back.

“Oh god!” Castiel sighed, his brain was a wiped out from research and his eyes tired from looking at his laptop for the past few hours. He had decided to try and take a short nap before he had to pick up Kate at 2pm. Then his phone rang, it was from the school.

“Hello, Milton house.”

“Castiel Milton this Kate’s counselor Ms. Bradbury, something is going on here and it would be best if you came as quickly as possible.”

“Can you help me understand?”

“Social services are here and they are talking to Kate.” Ms. Bradbury sounded terrified of what was going on. Kate was one of her favorite students in the school’s kindergarten classes.

“I’m coming now.” Castiel grabbed his keys and bolted to his car and drove as fast as he could to the school. This was his worst nightmare come true, social services were probably going to take her away from him. He pulled into a parking spot and forgot to lock the car as he ran to get Kate. He made it into the office and found the secretary lady.

“Where is the-” Castiel began.

“Down the hall first door on the left.” The whole school knew Castiel and Kate were the dynamic duo father and daughter in the area. This was a small part of town where everyone knew everyone.

Castiel tried to calm down as he walked to the office. He opened the door and found Ms. Bradbury waiting for him at the front.

“Castiel I am so sorry.”

“Where is she?” Tears were coming close to flowing on his face.

“Let me take you to her.” Castiel followed the counselor to a back part of the office.

Castiel saw a man and a woman with notebooks in their hands and in business attire sitting next to his only daughter.

“Kate, oh thank God you are ok.” Kate ran to her father and had a look of worry on her face as she gave him a hug and held on tightly, “What is going on?” Castiel felt helpless.

The social workers looked at Ms. Bradbury and then she patted Kate’s back, “Kate, I need you to wait in my office for me. You are welcome to take a blank piece of paper and draw or do homework.”

Kate let go of Castiel and nodded and walked, with her head hung low, to Ms. Bradbury’s office. Once the door was closed, it got serious quickly.

“Mr. Milton, I’m sure you know we are from social services and we are here to explain why Kate is being taken to a foster home today.” The woman said.

Castiel’s heart shattered and he died inside, “No please don’t take her. She is all I have. I am a good father and everyone can vouch for me.”

“We received a tip that you, Mr. Milton, otherwise find her overwhelming and based on your condition we believe its best that she was placed in a neurotypical household.”

“What condition do I have then?” Castiel spat at them.

“You are on the autism spectrum and the department feels that it is best that for the child’s safety that she be taken out of your custody today.” The man said.

“Hannah, Inias, this is a big misunderstanding. He has a job that pays well and can take care of his house, himself and his daughter. All that is wrong here is prejudice towards people of different abilities. This is a case of ablism and its discrimination.” Ms. Bradbury was not going to put up with this bullshit from social services.

“It doesn’t matter. Based on Mr. Milton’s blog posts, being a parent is challenging for him. Especially since he is recently a single parent.” Inias replied.

“There is also a petition that we have received from the community requesting us to take her.” Said Hannah as she pulled out a paper with over 200 signatures. She handed it to Castiel. Castiel’s stomach dropped as he read the list, some of these were even Kate’s friend’s parents and teachers at the school. These were people he thought he could trust and that were his ex wife’s friends...

“I am a good father and she is my daughter. You will not separate us ever!” Castiel was close to getting physically aggressive with Hannah and Inias.

Ms. Bradbury could see him shaking and tears flooding his eyes, “Please leave and let me talk to Castiel for a moment please. Do not leave with Kate or I will call the police.”

The social workers left and they closed the doors. She came and guided Castiel to a seat and sat him down as he was uncontrollably crying.

“They can’t take her from me, I refuse to let that happen.”

“Castiel they have to for now. But I will help you take this to court and I will hire the best damn family law lawyer in the state for you. I will not let them keep Kate from you. You are the best thing in her life and I always see the twinkle in her eyes when she talks about you. She loves you and is going to be terrified right now. You need to comfort her and tell her that this mess will be solved soon. That she will be reunited with her lovable daddy with butt- bergers.”

Castiel had hiccups as he was trying to calm down, when he heard the butt-bergers part he couldn’t help but let out a laugh, “She told you about that?”

“Everyone in her class knows you are her lovable father with butt-bergers. She draws stick figures with cheeseburgers for bums. Here is one that she drew while in class today.” She handed him a piece of green card paper with a stick figure that had a cheeseburger as a bottom.

Castiel too it and smirked at his daughter’s sense of humor.

“You have to be really strong right now for her. Tell her that this is temporary for now and that you too will be reunited again soon.”

Castiel felt a little more confident. He could always trust Ms. Bradbury for anything.

“Ok I can do this. I just want to take her home to help her get some things. She needs her book and her stuffed cat to go with it.”

“Is it her “All Cats Have Aspergers” book?”

“Yeah it is. It helps her understand me a little more every time we read it together. She has her black cat plush that she cuddles when she is read the book to. Black cats aren’t always wanted or loved but when they are they are truly loved.” Castiel felt an old wound open a little saying that.

“I’ll explain what is going on and how this is going to happen to Hannah and Inias.” Ms. Bradbury said as she left the room.

Castiel was left in silence with the picture Kate drew. His daughter was the one person in this world that he could feel that he’s done right by. When he was a kid he was different but he didn’t see it. He had best friend but they drifted apart and he felt neglected and then got into a nasty fight and ended their friendship a few years ago. Then when he grew into a teenager and had to go through therapy sessions that were out of pocket and a few medications for his depression and anxiety, he felt like a giant bill to his parents and not like their son. He felt like a failure at times and after he graduated from high school he left his old life and moved across the country to go to Washington State University school on a full scholarship. He hasn’t heard from his parents since and that was six and half years ago. For all he knows they could think he is dead or they could be dead themselves.

Castiel gathered himself and then walked out of the office and was reunited with Kate. She ran to him and gave him a hug and held onto him tight, crying.

“Kate, I know this is scary. But the smoother this happens the faster we will be back together as the best father-daughter duo in the world.” He was trying to hold back the tears too as he wrapped his arms around her, pulling his flesh and blood closer to him. He let her go and then she looked at Castiel, “You promise we will be back together?”

“I promise Kate Shailene Milton.” He put his hand out for a high five. She patted her hand on his with a weak smile. “I need to take you home so you can pack a bag for them. Then they will take you to a family and you will stay there till this mess is fixed. They will let me see you when they give me permission and then we will be going before a judge and we will win this and I will get you back. I promise you everything that we will be back together soon.” A tear strayed from his eye.

“I will be strong daddy. I will for you because I love you.”

Castiel picked up Kate and her bag and then took her out of the school and put her into her seat and buckled her up. He knew that the services would be following them and he was too civilly obedient to cause any problems. He drove very slowly as to savor the last car ride with his daughter. When they got to the house, social services had parked behind Castiel’s car, blocking him in. They walked with them and went inside the house.

“Kate, you need to pack a few clothes, toiletries and any animals or books you want to take with you.” Hannah said to the girl as she was staying close to her father.

Kate and Castiel walked up into her room and he pulled out her slumber party suitcase. She picked out a few pairs of jeans, shirts, socks, underwear and a pair of extra shoes. Then she went and got her toothpaste, toothbrush, face wash, hairbrush and hair bands and shampoo, conditioner and body wash. Then she finished packing and saw her father holding her favorite book and Jasper, her plush black cat.

“Just remember that Jasper has butt-bergers too. Your daddy has it and so do all cats.” Kate embraced her father one last time and they held tightly. 

“Any last words Kate?” Hannah asked impatiently.

Kate shot her a nasty look over Castiel’s shoulder and then let go of her father, “I love you daddy, don’t let your butt-bergers stop you today.” She sniff as tears were starting to creep out from her eyes and stream down her little face.

“I love you too Kate.” And Castiel kissed the top of her head and then she walked towards Inias and Hannah and they led her out the front door. 

Once he heard the door was shut Castiel stood in Kate’s room in disbelief and in denial that for the first time since Kate was born she wasn’t with him. She wasn’t his child anymore and that was the most crippling fact in this whole situation. Castiel just got into her bed and breathed in her scent of her sheets and succumbed to a numbness that swallowed him into a dreamless sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The homesteading and fruit leather can be traced back to Misha's panel at DCCON 2016, which I attended :)


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry guys for delaying this. Usually I'm better but I have been working on my shop and new Supernatural Squirrels and two other fan fictions plus a lot of BS that involves a Destiel fan fiction and a Destiel group. So my mind has been everywhere. XP But I will get back on the train soon.

Castiel woke up at 6pm in a numb haze as he no longer heard the shrill but loving squeals of Kate in the house. There was only silence and it was driving him mad. He wanted to call and find out where Kate was. He wanted to hold her and breathe in her scent. He wanted his girl back and he had no way to do so for now.

Castiel slowly got out of Kate’s bed and trudged to his laptop and opened his email. He hoped for something from Ms. Bradbury about a lawyer but all he saw was junk mail and another article to edit. Castiel knew that he needed to do the article even though his head and heart were not in the place to do it. It was just a basic spelling and grammar check and it took about ten minutes to finish. Then he decided to reach out to the editor in chief and his coworkers about this situation. There was a family article written a year ago about what to do when divorce and custody issues arise amongst family members with autism.

 

“Dear Mr. Winchester,

I have been falsely accused of being an unfit parent and my daughter Kate has been taken by social services. I am in need of a lawyer that can help me fight this case and reclaim custody of her. 

There was an article written a year ago and I think a few lawyers and firms that specialize in this kind of law were listed but I can’t seem to find the article. I was hoping that maybe you could help me. And any help possibly from you and the other bloggers could help me too.

I know you love my articles about my life with Kate and I know a lot of people do too and I hope for some help because she is all I have and I love her so much.

Thank you again,

Castiel Milton.”

 

Castiel emailed the editor in chief and then had to play the waiting game. Luckily it was only a few minutes later and it had a file attached to it too.

 

“Dear Castiel,

I am incredibly sorry about what has happened recently. No parent neurotypical or not should ever have to lose their child over false accusations.

You are in luck, my brother happens to be a lawyer and his speciality is family and social law. I talked to him about you a couple of times and how well written your articles are. He said he is more than happy to help settle this for you and no charge. I have included a document with his information and some laws that you will be testing the system with.

I hope things work out for the best.

Best wishes,

Sam Winchester, Editor in Chief”

 

Castiel felt relief wash over him. He was so happy that he knew the right kind of people because it was exhausting for him to talk to strangers sometimes. He could and would talk without stopping or not catching onto cues on when to stop or he would say something that he shouldn’t have said after he said it.

He didn’t know who had filed the petition or why they would do it. Castiel mostly kept to himself and only communicated with co workers from the blog or friends in support groups online. He knew Kate’s friend’s parents and a few people from when he went out for errands and the faculty at the her school. To Castiel this was completely taking hold of him and he couldn’t focus. 

Hunger started to gnaw at him and he finally took himself away from the computer and went to make himself apple butter toast. He was going to avoid the fruit leather that he had made for Kate the day before as he was hoping that if he was allowed to see her with supervision then he would give her some. The bread was just plain white from the store and the butter was made last week. He picked out the toast from the toaster and put a glob of the butter on it before spreading it all over the slice and then taking a bite out of it. He felt saddened that he couldn’t have Kate with him but he was sure that Sam’s brother could fix this sooner than later.

 

****************************************************************************************************

 

Dean Winchester was about to get off work after a long hard day of difficult clients and stubborn judges when a call from Sam was coming in.

“Sam I am tired and I want to-” Dean began to bark.

“Dean this is important listen to me!” Sam begged.

Dean sighed and rolled his eyes, “You got 30 seconds go!”

“My editor Castiel Milton is in trouble. His daughter was taken by social services because there was a petition declaring he is an unfit parent because of his Aspergers Syndrome, which is a type of autism. He needs a lawyer to fix this and I said your name.”

“You said Castiel Milton? My favorite blogger on your page?” Dean was shocked by this. He loved reading his blog posts about him and Kate’s lives together.

“Yeah. They need your help bad and I won’t sleep properly till he has his girl back. Can you do it?” Sam asked.

“Give me his contact info. I’ll send him a message tonight and call him tomorrow.”

Sam was grinning from ear to ear, “Thank you so much Dean.”

“No problem Sammy. I need to get home though because I have had a long and tiring day and I need to relax now.”

“Ok I’l let you go. Again thank you so much.” Click.

Dean felt a hole in his chest forming. Castiel was his favorite person to read about on Sam’s blog and his began to kill him a little with what was going on in his life. No parent, disabled or not, should ever have their kids taken from them if they can provide for them with shelter, food, hygiene, clothes and safety and love.

Castiel has always provided everything that a basic human needs and then some. He was Kate’s idol from what she posted once or twice on a note on her father’s blog.

_Kate_ , Dean thought, _that poor little girl. The fear that she must be going through right now._

Dean loved kids, but dating wasn’t on top of his list in life right now. He was still pretty good firm wise and now he was going to help out his brother and help someone he hoped he could be friends with in the process.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dear fellow Readers, 4/12/18
> 
>  
> 
> It has come to my attention that I haven't touched this fan fiction in two years.
> 
>  
> 
> My sincerest apologies but I will probably not finish this story. I thought I was going to but my mind was swept up with Piercifer, Wincest fan fictions, other Destiel fics and a lot of drama at the supernatural cons and within the fandom. I wanted to let everyone know because I hate when writers leave fans like me hanging when their story isn't complete.
> 
> I hope everyone can enjoy my other works in the meantime.
> 
>  
> 
> Love Supernatural Squirrel Girl


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